Press Releases

Western Digital To Deliver World’s First Client Solid State Drives With 64-layer 3d Nand Technology

May 29, 2017

company continues to demonstrate advancement of flash memory with introduction of new 3d NAND ssds

TAIPEI (COMPUTEX), Taiwan — May 30, 2017 — Western Digital Corporation (“Western Digital”) (NASDAQ: WDC), a global data storage technology and solutions leader, today announced the world’s first client solid state drives built with its 64-layer 3D NAND technology. This technology milestone enables the company to deliver new, innovative SSDs with lower power consumption and higher performance, endurance and capacities. This is the latest achievement in a nearly three-decades-long legacy of flash memory industry firsts from the company.

“Delivering 64-layer 3D NAND-based SSDs into the PC segment marks a critical step in our ongoing conversion to this new technology, as well as offers long-term benefits for our customers,” said MIke Cordano, president and chief operating officer, Western Digital. “Between our two, strong brands in SanDisk and WD, and their respective loyal customer bases and distribution channels, these advanced SSDs will appeal to a very broad footprint of the computing population that are seeking the benefits of today’s newest technologies.”

Intended for gaming and creative enthusiasts who want to improve their PCs, the SanDisk Ultra® 3D SSDs are ideal as a drop-in upgrade for existing systems. For consumers looking for a simple path to upgrade their PCs, a SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD delivers enhanced endurance and reliability, no-wait boot-up, shorter application load times, and quicker data transfer. In addition to cooler, quieter computing, the SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD includes proven shock- and vibration-resistance to protect your drive.

Availabilty and Pricing:

WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSDs will be available in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities in both a traditional 2.5-inch/7mm cased drive as well as a single-sided M.2 2280 form factor. Like all WD SSDs, the WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD includes WD F.I.T Lab certification for compatibility with many leading platforms.

SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs will be available in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities in a traditional 2.5-inch/7mm cased drive form factor.

Both products boast up to 560MB/s and 530MB/s sequential read and write speeds respectively, a 3-year limited warranty, and will be available worldwide in the third quarter of 2017. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price will start at $99.99 USD for the WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD and SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD 2.5-inch/7mm version and will start at $99.99 USD for the WD Blue M.2 2280 version.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is an industry-leading provider of storage technologies and solutions that enable people to create, leverage, experience and preserve data. The company addresses ever-changing market needs by providing a full portfolio of compelling, high-quality storage solutions with customer-focused innovation, high efficiency, flexibility and speed. Our products are marketed under the HGST, SanDisk and WD brands to OEMs, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including the development, performance, capacity, capabilities, applications, approximate price and estimated product availability of the WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSDs and SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD and expectations for the acceleration of the transition to 64-layer 3D NAND, that are based on current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: our product offerings may not be available at the price and time we expect, the transition to 64-layer 3D NAND may not accelerate as expected and other risks detailed from time-to-time in Western Digital’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our most recent quarterly report filed on May 8, 2017 on Form 10-Q to which your attention is directed. This news release contains information from third parties, which reflect their projections as of the date of issuance. All statements made in this news release are made only as of the date of this release. Western Digital undertakes no obligations to update the information in this release in the event facts or circumstances change after the date of this release.

Apps, services, and other features are subject to change based on your location, software version, device model, and third party service providers.

Western Digital, SanDisk, the SanDisk logo, WD, the WD logo, F.I.T. Lab, SanDisk Ultra and WD Blue are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. Acronis and True Image are registered trademarks or trademarks of Acronis International GmbH and or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Product specifications subject to change without notice. Not all products may be available in all regions of the world. As used for storage capacity, one gigabyte = one billion bytes and one terabyte = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.